It’s Too Early to be Having Newlywed Syndrome! ~Childhood Friends Who Rekindled their Love for Each Other ~ - 4 - 1 - Beyond Love

Beyond Love

          “Good morning!”

Naoto, who’s waiting for Natsuki in front of the emergency stairs, greeted energetically.

“Morning! Aren’t you cheerful? I’m quite surprised. Did something happen?

Natsuki asked, but before answering, Naoto checked their surroundings before embracing Natsuki.

Natsuki answered back with a kiss.

“——I thought I should also stop being nervous at least with greeting. I tried practicing my greeting.”

January 10. It was the following day after they went to eat okonomiyaki and a lot of things happened afterwards.

“I also love the sleepy Nao-kun, you know.

Wouldn’t it tire you if you suddenly forced it?”

“I don’t want to suddenly force it as well, it’s just that I want to at least thank Ninomiya-san and Hirose-san properly for yesterday.”

“There’s that, yeah. I should also thank them.”

“I’m very grateful to them. Even though I just happened to bring Iida with us, to think all of that happened.”

“Really. I was able to hear lots about your time during middle school.”

Naoto, while a bit perplexed,

“Thank you for telling me I should go meet up with Mori-san.”

Said, then smiled.

“So that person, you call her Mori-san?”

“Nnn—– well, yeah. I used to call Iida Iida-kun so…..”

While saying that, Naoto gently held Natsuki’s hand.

As they went out of the apartment complex,

“Just today, is it alright if we go until near the school holding hands like this?”

Natsuki asked.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you that, too.”

“Yay”

Natsuki happily swinged her hand that was being held by Naoto.

“………Right now, do you still think I should go meet up with Mori-san?”

“Yup. You should really go and see her. Aside from Nao-kun. Iida-kun should meet her as well. If, by any chance, the feeling is still mutual, the sooner he meets with her, the better.”

“Natsuki, you’re really kind, aren’t you?”

“Rather than that, it’s just that I think that right now, Mori-san might be being troubled by it just as I was troubled by it in the past.”

“Are you talking about making up with me?”

“There’s also that, but I think that just like when I had cystitis, she might have also suffered from some illness. She might have fell ill and had no one to talk to about it.”

“Aaah, that might be it. If that isn’t it to a large extent, she’s not the kind of person who’ll just go and say ‘Are you stupid?’ to someone.”

Natsuki looked at Naoto’s face from the side. Naoto had a distant look on his face, and whatever’s on his mind, Natsuki had no idea.

“You did love Mori-san very much, didn’t you?”

Natsuki suddenly asked a thing that she already knew the answer to.

“Yeah”

“What about now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe a bit more than you love me?”

“For me, I think I love Natsuki more. However, as you already know, just seeing her was enough to stir up my emotions. I wouldn’t know how I really feel about her until we see each other.”

“She might appear shining in your eyes.”

“That would be frightening.”

“Once you meet her, I would be okay even if you found out you love her more than me, so tell me honestly afterwards, okay?”

“Got it.”

“That’s a promise.”

Natsuki showed him a smile.

“But with things like this right now, is there any possibility that I end up having feelings greater that how I feel about you?”

“None, isn’t it, it won’t happen. So it’s alright.”

Even though she’s full of worries, Natsuki purposefully said, acting courageously.

“It would be good if that’s the case. ——Oh, is it the reply?”

Naoto, with his hand that was not holding Natsuki’s, took out his smartphone from the farthest pocket with some difficulty, then started tinkering with it.

“This morning, I sent a message to Mori-san’s friend asking if we could meet up after school. Sure enough, it looks like Mori-san had some business at that time.”

“Was Mori-san included in that meetup?”

“Nope, I just decided that in the meantime, I should have a talk with her friend.”

“Will you be okay alone?”

“Will you come with me?

It’s on the neighboring high school, so it should be alright, road-wise.”

“At that school?! Is that where Mori-san attends as well?”

“No, Mori-san goes to an all-girls high school. That’s why when I happened to eavesdrop when she was talking about what high school will she be entering, I felt disappointed.”

“Ahahaha, that’s cute. Hey, hey, when you learned that we’ll be attending the same high school, were you happy?”

“My parents were planning on having Natsuki help me familiarize myself with the way to school, so I preempted them by saying I already asked Iida, then I forced Iida into it. I had to listen to Iida’s complaints afterwards.”

“Why were you so aversive with me going to school with you?”

While they’re walking, Natsuki lightly leaned against Naoto on purpose.

“That’s because, Natsuki never came to my room. If you just told me ‘Let’s go to school together’, I would’ve happily obliged.”

“Going to your room is such a high bar, you know—. Nao-kun’s a brute, so I can’t do that.”

“Well, there’s that. In all seriousness, I was actually planning on apologizing to you if you came that day.”

“Eh—– that reeks of lies. You’re still very much in love with Mori-san at that time, after all.”

“I also thought about Natsuki, you know.”

“But you didn’t come to apologize.”

“Well, I can’t do it unless it was just the two of us.”

“There were lots of times where it’s just the two of us, though, like in the elevator.”

“That’s right, I’m sorry.”

“if you want me to forgive you, then hold my hand until we reach the classroom!”

“Okay”

“……Am I being selfish?”

“You’re being very cute right now, you know. I love that part of you.”

“If you can say that again after meeting Mori-san, I’ll take you on a date.”

“I’m looking forward to that.”

“If you can’t say it, then as an apology, you’ll take me on a date.”

“Isn’t that the same?”

“The difference might be my degree of selfishness.”

“You’ll be cute either way, so I don’t know which date to choose.”

“Then, let’s date twice.”

“Twice, huh. Should we go somewhere?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Hmmmm, I just can’t settle on anything from my mind.”

“Me too, there were lots of ideas in my mind.”

“For now, I want to sleep in Natsuki’s room. I want to say ‘A—–h, I’m so tired.’”

“Me too. I want to sleep in Nao-kun’s room.”

“Then, I’ll have to empty the bin of used tissues, huh.”

While thinking on the fact that Natsuki cleaned up his room the previous day, Naoto made a face saying it’s going to be a bother.

“Ara? Did you use that many tissues on Mori-san?”

“It’s Natsuki.”

“What’s the truth? I won’t get mad.”

“Natsuki and Ninomiya-san.”

“Why Aki?”

“Yesterday, when I cried, I felt happy when she rubbed my back to console me.”

“If she learns of that Aki will hate you, you know.”

“Eh, is that so?”

“I don’t really know, though. Do you really think of someone like that just by them rubbing your back to console you?”

“Yeah. That’s why fundamentally, it’s not good to touch a guy anywhere. We’re the incarnation of lust, after all. Do warn Ninomiya-san and Hirose-san, that it would not do good being kind to me.”

“Eh—- I don’t want to tell them.”

“Why?”

“I’m somewhat happy that Nao-kun’s friends are increasing.”

“Even if they’re girls?”

“Yup. Though only by about fifty percent.”

“You’re weird, Natsuki.”

“When I think about the time you were playing alone on the park, and seeing Nao-kun’s talking with friends right now, I thought that you’ve really grown up.”

“Ain’t your viewpoint strange? That’s a kind of view a childhood friend would have.”

“I’m your childhood friend, after all.”

“I kind of understand that view before we started going out, but now that we’re together, you still approve of me having more female friends, you’re being too understanding. Isn’t that kind of person unusual?”

“If I hate you having more female friends, then I wouldn’t have told you to go meet with Mori-san. It’s thanks to Aki and Sakurako that I was able to understand Nao-kun’s feelings, I thought, that kind of relationship is fine.”

“If there comes a time that you’re not fine with it, tell me immediately, okay?”

“Okay. Perhaps, if it’s a girl who’s incapable of respect, then I would not be fine with it.”

“I see. ……Lately, enjoy the fact that I keep discovering something new about Natsuki every day.”

“Stop that. If you say something like that I feel like crying.”

“Then isn’t it okay if you cry?”

“I don’t want to. I already decided I would keep smiling until afterschool. So don’t make me cry.”

“I see, got it. ……Today, I might probably settle things about Mori-san.”

“There’s no need to rush it, you know.”

“That won’t do, after what happened yesterday, my head really hurt. If I don’t settle things sooner, my body might not be able to take it.

After I acted really fussy during Natsuki’s cystitis, then I should also take care of myself, right?”

“Ah, my head also hurt a bit, I thought it was a cold but I had no other symptoms.”

“That might have been dehydration. When I looked it up since I can’t sleep, I read that crying can cause dehydration, wherein exhaustion can lead to headaches. While I was hesitating whether to send that info to Natsuki, before I knew it, it was already 5:30, so when I thought that you might’ve forgot to put your phone on silent like what happened before, I decided not to send it.”

“I rarely put my phone to silent, though it would’ve been okay sending it still.”

“I only Natsuki would do it like I do, my phone’s only silent and I only turn it to vibrate whenever I’m exchanging messages with someone.”

“Because there might be emergency calls, or chats of utmost urgency.”

“Natsuki receives those kinds of things, huh. I’ve only exchanged messages with Iida.”

“You two love exchanging text messages, huh.”

“Or rather, messages exchanged through the internet can be looked up on even if it was written many years ago, and even if you delete your message it will still remain on the net one way or another. Wouldn’t it be dangerous in the future unless you send a message through text?”

“Ah—–, that’s scary, isn’t it?”

“If someone like me was able to freely use chat back in grade school, I don’t know what I would’ve written. I might’ve demanded weird pics from Natsuki.”

“Then I would’ve sent it. It was less scary than when you pushed me down, and at that time I would’ve no idea of the dangers of the internet.”

“If I remember right, we used a quasi-chat function in the game console, right? We used to chat and make exchange diaries with that while saying how shabby it was, but for us at the time, such a thing was enough.”

“Uwa, that’s so nostalgic. Don’t you want to do that exchange diary again?”

“Should we? Natsuki should’ve been endlessly begging me for a kiss, so I’m looking forward to reading the logs in it.”

“Eh? Such a thing happened?”

“I remember locking a message there that said ‘Once you get better from the cold let’s kiss lots, okay?’”

“Uwa, I remember writing that……. There’s a drawing included in it, wasn’t there?”

“Also, there’s also something like a voice recording in there, it said ‘When I grow up, I’ll marry Nao-kun.’”

“Ah! Nao-kun also made me say a bunch of things to record there.”

“Why did I forget such a thing? I would sometimes remember them from time to time, but when we started dating until right now, I completely forgot about that.”

“It’s okay to forget those, they’re embarrassing.”

“We need to record it right now. Is it okay if we do a recording?”

“No way. Nao-kun only make me say the embarrassing things and record it, you won’t let your own voice be recorded.”

“Ah, you can record my voice too if you want.”

“Even though you don’t want to in the past, why the change of heart?”

“I used to hate my own recorded voice at the time, but right now, I understand that Natsuki’s overjoyed whenever I talk while hugging Natsuki.

I came to realize that just like how I love Natsuki’s voice so much, Natsuki also loves my voice so much, it gave me confidence in myself.”

“Kuu, getting such weird self-confidence.”

“Do you hate my voice?”

“It’s obvious that I love them very much, isn’t it?”

“I’m glad. I will say lots of things for you.”

“What will you say for me?”

“Let’s see. Right now, would something like ‘I’ll never let you go again’ be alright?”

“Why do you know what I wanted to hear?”

“You did want us to stay holding hands until we reach the classroom, so I thought that’s what you wanted to hear. ……I’ll say it to you in bed afterwards.”

“Wa-, don’t say weird things!”

Such a thing being whispered close to her ears, Natsuki unconsciously tried to move away, however she wasn’t able to since her hand was being tightly held by Naoto.

“I thought it would be okay to say it since there’s no one else around.”

“Even though you don’t know what will happen, you know, if all you do is just smooth-talking—–……”

“No, it’s just that I felt a sense of relief coming into me while talking. That Natsuki loves me, there no mistaking it.”

“Eh——?”

“While were talking just now, when the topic of our voice came up, it suddenly came to me.

When I think about it, since we started going out, all of the thing that I love about Natsuki, I ended up loving them even more. I love Natsuki’s personality, I also love Natsuki’s voice, I love your eyes, I love your face. Of course, I love your figure very much. And I love your heart very much.

I haven’t loved any person as much before. That much I clearly know. That’s why, from now on as well, please, please take care of me. Natsuki-san, you’re the one I love the most in this world.”

“Even though I told you…… not to make me cry……”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nao-kun you idiot…… I forgive you, though.”

“Thank you.”

When they entered the classroom, Natsuki’s already smiling.